The present invention relates generally to wrapping machines wherein packages are conveyed to an elevator to raise them into sheets of wrapping material which are folded about the packages and, more particularly, to a package catcher associated with the elevator of a wrapping machine for catching packages which are inadvertently dropped from the elevator or from a package conveyor which transports packages to the elevator.
Wrapping machines which include package elevators are well known in the art. In such machines, packages, typically comprising trayed commodities, are conveyed to an elevator which raises the packages into a sheet of wrapping material. The sheet of wrapping material is then folded about the package and secured to the bottom thereof to form a package for attractively displaying the commodities. An illustrative package elevating wrapping machine which utilizes film wrapping material is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 371,681, filed by Fritz Treiber et al., on Apr. 26, 1982 and entitled "Wrapping Control System for Film Wrapping Machine," which application is now U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,106, is assigned to the assignee of the present application and is incorporated herein by reference.
In known package elevating wrapping machines, a chute or slide is positioned adjacent to the elevator and inclined away from the elevator to catch and direct dropped packages toward the operator end of the machine. An operator may then open the machine to retrieve a dropped package and replace the package to be wrapped into the wrapping machine.
In the interest of space saving, wrapping machines are preferably compact and include relatively dense construction of mechanical apparatus to perform the wrapping. See, for example, the above-referenced U.S. patent application Ser. No. 371,681 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,106. Accordingly, packages which are inadvertently dropped to the package catching slide, particularly in the case of larger sized packages, may interfere with or be engaged by operating mechanisms within the wrapping machine. For example, in the machine of the above-referenced patent application, a package pusher is continuously circulated in close proximity to the package catching slide. If a dropped package remains on the slide, the package pusher may engage and jam the package potentially damaging or jamming the machine and/or destroying the engaged package.
It is, thus, apparent that the need exists for improved apparatus for catching packages which are dropped from an elevator or other supporting or conveying apparatus of a package elevating wrapping machine to prevent potential destruction of the dropped packages as well as damage to or jamming of the wrapping machine itself.